Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cloud computing technology applied to mobile communication devices, and more particularly, to a must-reply mobile questionnaire system and method.
Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, there are many systems available for message exchange within a group or corporation, wherein the systems employ cloud computing technology to provide message exchange services on mobile communication devices. One type of the messages delivered by such systems is a message which requires a user to select at least one answer and then reply, e.g., the user needs to cast a vote or complete a questionnaire survey. However, there are still many drawbacks with existing voting or questionnaire conducting technologies, and the needs of many groups or corporations cannot be satisfied.
Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 201337595 (hereinafter “Prior Art #1”) describes an invention titled “Handheld Device, Electronic Questionnaire Processing Method and System Thereof,” disclosing an electronic questionnaire processing method executed in a handheld device. The method comprises the following steps: (a) preparing an electronic questionnaire according to a predetermined time period and two alternative option data; (b) transmitting the electronic questionnaire to multiple members on the friends list according to the communication information; (c) collecting the response messages of the electronic questionnaire from different members; if the response messages occur within a predetermined time period, the number of the options selected in the response message is accumulated; if the predetermined time period is over, the number of the options selected is not accumulated; and (d) allowing the handheld device to display the options with the maximum cumulative number. The technical problem that Prior Art #1 actually aims to solve is that prior art electronic questionnaire surveys tend to have low response rates (see paragraph [0003]). Results yielded by Prior Art #1 are: “Questionnaire respondents can be quickly found out from the friends list. In addition, there is a time limit for completing the questionnaire, and there is only a small number of questions and options on the questionnaire. Thus, respondents will be more willing to complete the questionnaire. The response rate may increase, and the time/money can be saved to lower the total cost” (see paragraph [0017]).
Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 201036414 (hereinafter “Prior Art #2”) describes an invention titled “Message Managing System, Message Managing Apparatus and Operating Method Thereof,” disclosing a message managing system. The message managing system comprises a message managing apparatus and N electronic apparatuses. N is a positive integer. The message managing apparatus comprises a message generating module, a transmitting/receiving module, and a statistics module. The message generating module is used for generating a questionnaire message comprising a replying menu and a sequence command. The transmitting/receiving module transmits the questionnaire message and receives a default replying message. The statistics module generates a statistics result according to the default replying message. The technical problem that Prior Art #2 actually aims to solve is that “conventional methods for delivering questionnaire messages are not very convenient for either message senders or message receivers” (see paragraph [0005]). Results yielded by Prior Art #2 are: “To successfully conduct a questionnaire with a respondent and obtain a result of the selected options, a sender simply needs to send, with his/her mobile phone, a questionnaire message to the respondent's mobile phone. And the respondent simply needs to press some keys to easily reply to the questionnaire message” (see paragraph [0009]).
Prior Art #3 refers to a customized message delivery system developed by a software development company specifically for a particular corporation to suit the needs of that corporation. The system is located at the corporation's own IDC or a co-location site, and members (the staff of the corporation) use a dedicated application (app), which is also custom-made for the corporation, installed on a mobile communication device to access the server of the message delivery system. With respect to the deployment model, Prior Art #3 employs a private cloud deployment model. When there are N corporations employing the private cloud deployment models, there must be N corresponding app sets (one app set includes apps created for different major platforms of mobile communication devices) and N portals (since each private cloud has its own server IP address, the login portals for N corporations must be different). The technical problem that Prior Art #3 actually solves is that the private cloud deployment model allows a corporation to completely manage and control information security on its own, and that a dedicated app allows members of the corporation to avoid unnecessary disturbance from users outside the corporation. This means that a dedicated app is required to access the customized system. Only the members of the corporation have permission to use the app; family and friends of the members cannot send messages to them with other apps. Results yielded by Prior Art #3 are that the message delivery system employs a private cloud deployment model, and that a dedicated app is used. However, for software development companies, developing customized message delivery systems employing the private cloud deployment model and developing customized apps for particular groups or corporations constantly may consume quite much labor and time and can be very costly. Moreover, future upgrading of the software may be a more difficult task.
Prior Art #4 refers to a message exchange service that employs a public cloud deployment model and utilizes mobile communication devices and push technology to provide a person-to-person messaging service or messaging service within a single level of an organization. An example is the LINE app and its back-end system developed by LINE Corporation of Japan, a subsidiary of the Korea-based NHN Corporation. The biggest problem with Prior Art #4 is that there is not enough protection of privacy. For example, suppose that two members (member A and member B) of an organization know each other and both join such a messaging system. And suppose that for some reasons, member A does not want member B to know that member A is using the same app and system, lest member B adds member A to the friends list of member B. However, Prior Art #4 allows users to search for other users in the database by using a mobile phone number or email address to perform the search. That is, from the database of the system, member B can easily search member A out with member A's mobile phone number or email address. Moreover, Prior Art #4 requires that each member has a unique member account (i.e., user ID). If a member intends to join different organizations or use the service in different countries, he/she will need to create different, non-duplicate accounts. The technical problem that Prior Art #4 aims to solve is that conventional messaging services fail to provide messages with diverse types of content and thus fail to provide vivid, lively communication experience for users. Results yielded by Prior Art #4 are: providing a message delivery system employing a public cloud deployment model; providing a person-to-person messaging service or messaging service within a single level of an organization; and enhancing messaging services by providing more vivid, lively message stickers.
The prior art techniques described above all fail to include an organization management module to cope with issues such as the needs of groups or corporations to have a flexible, multi-level organizational structure, issuing questionnaires to specific levels, and using a single cloud system to provide services to many groups or corporations. For example, in a corporation consisting of multiple levels, when an employee from one segment of the corporation intends to conduct a questionnaire survey, prior art techniques do not allow the employee to issue a request to all the staff of that specific segment, or to issue the questionnaire to separate levels or segments within the corporation. And multiple corporations are not able to share the same questionnaire system. Moreover, those prior art techniques do not allow wireless clients to use a single app and a single portal to access the server in a hybrid cloud system. This is because each corporation has a dedicated app specifically developed for the questionnaire system of that corporation, and different corporations have different portals for accessing the questionnaire systems. Also, those prior art techniques cannot force wireless clients to respond to the electronic questionnaires; the technical means and results involved in prior art techniques have nothing to do with “must-reply mobile questionnaires.” As such, to overcome problems in prior art techniques, there exists a need to provide a cloud system for conducting mobile questionnaires, wherein the system suits the needs of different groups or corporations and supports multi-level organizational structures. With the system, wireless clients can use a single app to log in to a single portal (i.e., a connecting interface) in the public cloud; push notifications for the questionnaire issuing request can be sent from the public cloud; and groups or corporations can receive questionnaire results with their own private clouds to control the questionnaire survey process.